A "shocked" Jewish group in France has written to the government to demand the name of a tiny French hamlet be changed from "La-Mort-aux-Juifs" (Death to Jews) to something less offensive. Local leaders are against any name change however.

Prominent Jewish group the Simon Wiesenthal Centre has sent a letter to France's interior minister to demand that a tiny hamlet south of Paris called "Death to Jews" be renamed.

The group's director of international affairs, Shimon Samuels, wrote to Bernard Cazeneuve saying he was "shocked to discover the existence of a village in France officially called 'Death to Jews'."

"It is extremely shocking that this name has slipped under the radar in the 70 years that have passed since France was liberated from Nazism and the (pro-Nazi) Vichy regime," he wrote.

However, the deputy mayor of the village of Courtemaux - population 289 - which has jurisdiction over the hamlet located around 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of Paris, dismissed the concerns.